Through the eyes of a PARTISAN SOLDIER in Yugoslavia

By Alojz Voler

I was born into a large, humble and hardworking family. The onset of the Second World War broke the family up and we had to obey the voice of the dominating occupator; I was pulled away from home and had to go to the other end of Europe, to serve in the German forces. Even though my heart was at home in Slovenia, with the partisans. I, like many, explored and searched for any way to desert the German army, and return home, to Slovenia.

Even though it was a risky, treacherous and live threatening move to make, I succeeded. It was a huge step to make too; from one of the most dominating forces in the World at that time, and into a solitary, independent army, which had to stand on the strength of its own feet to sustain its self, for there was no government behind it, to hold it up.

To keep moving was a strategy of survival, with armies and opposing forces constantly breathing down our necks, from all sides. This made for many breathtaking adventures.

Even though we were a solitary army, we were entrusted with a number of tasks and missions, such as; "The flight of the Crow", also known as "The raid at Ozbalt", and with our presence and  achievements, stamped our place into the history of the nation and the World.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Robert Posl
• Release date: Mar 17, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393393382

Book preview

Acknowledgements

One of the key inspirations for the book was Alojz’s grandson, Dare. When Dare was still in primary school, showing great interest, had many questions in what Alojz experienced as a soldier; How did you live and survive?, At what distance would you fire at the enemy?. With time, Alojz showed Dare the notes he made during the war. Dare inspired him, "Why don’t you print your notes in a book so that everyone can read them", which he eventually did do.

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With my grandson Dare

When my brother Albin heard the suggestion, that I should print my notes, he assured me that he would take care of the printing and binding, which he did with help from his wife, Zofka, and daughter Irena.

Alojz didn’t really release the book and thought the publication would always remain narrow, between relatives and close aquaintences. Another sign of Alojz’s great humbleness. 

When I [Robert] heard that Alojz was involved in a remarkable and extraordinary event, which made international news. I right away recommended that the autobiography be translated into English and published, so that the World can read it and know what soldiers like Alojz were involved in and what went on here in Slovenia during the war. 

Introduction to the Slovene language

Since there is quite a significant number of names: people’s names and names of places, I included this brief look at the Slovene language and pronunciation.

The Slovene language doesn’t have letters; Q, W, X, Y. What it does have, which aren’t in the English language, are the following:

Č - pronounced like CH, like in the word chips

Š - pronounced like SH, like in the word ship

Ž - pronounced like in the word measure

Additionally:

J - pronounced like the letter Y, like in you. When the letter ‘J’ is at the end of a word, it is barely pronounced

C - pronounced like the letters tz spoken together

Names of places; towns, villages, etc.

The majority of villages in Slovenia, which are located near or above a larger or better known town or city, are also named accordingly. For example:

Mekine nad Kamnik; eng: Mekine above Kamnik; is a village in the hills above the larger, well known town Kamnik, overlooking the town.

Podveža pri Luče; eng: Podveža by Luče; is a village of a number of houses and farms near the town of Luče.

Slovene grammar is unique and something quite tricky to learn and master. Words, mostly nouns and even names are often changed and adapted according to the sentence they are in. Usually the last letter or two are changed to either a, e, i or o, depending on how and where they appear in the sentence they are in.

Map of Slovenia

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Map of Slovenia, indicating where in Slovenia Alojz served in the partisan forces. Also, showing where some of the major events took place.

Preface

The urge for me to share my memories of when I was a soldier during, and in the years after the Second World War, has been brewing for long inside of me. My family have also encouraged me to do this. But the main reason and my intension for doing this is to preserve the respect for the then young generation who carried the immense weight and responsibility of liberation of their homeland, on their shoulders. It was an overwhelming burden with tremendous adversity, which must never be forgotten.

I am sure many would want to know how and why I would want to revive and publish memories of such a difficult period, from so long ago. Then allow me to comfort your curiosity, with the facts: I decided and started making notes and records of goings-on already during the war, in my private journal. It is also natural that a person never forgets times of great burden and suffering, even if you so desperately wanted to and tried to forget them. But then again, it was not easy remembering specific details and the order of events of that period. Partisan forces were always on the move, which was an obliged strategy of survival, thus resulting in many short and dramatic confrontations and disengagements. The order of events may not be entirely in the correct order.

I must admit that I am very proud of the contributions I made in the National Liberation Army (the Partisans), even though it resulted in a vast amount of physical and mental affliction. It was primarily so much harder for us because we, the Slovene people, were so solitary and had to take self-defence entirely into our own hands if we wanted to preserve our existence.

To go into resistance with almost bare hands, against the most elite forces in the world of that time, was an almost fantasy. But it was no fantasy; it was the cruel reality. The military did not sustain the Slovenian partisan forces, and thus it had to maintain itself to survive. We were dependent entirely on each other and on immediate surroundings, where we were located.

Endless gratitude goes out to the people, who were living in the surrounding hills and farmlands. Their support, donations and shelter they supplied us with, was of incredible value. Not to mention the danger they put themselves in for supporting us, the partisans. Because if a family was found in any way to be helping the partisans, it could have been fatal to their existence. But without the support of the people, the liberation movement would have been much, much more difficult, if not impossible. As I mentioned before, the partisan forces were not in any way supported by the military but were an entirely solitary movement. We sometimes even got our supplies, weapons and ammunition right out of the claws of our enemies.

In the partisan forces, there was a constant, stringent but healthy discipline. It was, in my opinion, perfectly suitable for the then unbearable era. All penalties and sentences given out to recruits were given out by a military court. We didn’t always agree with the given sentences and whenever that was the case, we often openly protested against them. For more severe violations, which jeopardised the security of the movement, even death sentences were given and often also carried out. Even captured German soldiers were sometimes judged by our courts and sentences carried out. Executions were usually carried out by the unit I belonged to, but fortunately, I never was assigned to the firing squad.

I also served in the German forces, but only for a short time. In that time, I was well trained and prepared for battle. I was fortunate that in the short period I served in the German forces, I did not need to confront any Allied forces. The majority of all the skills and experience I gained, I mostly earned later while serving with the partisan forces, where they were also highly cherished. But unfortunately much too little appreciated.

I still so well remember how we were always taught and educated to contradict the partisan movement, already from an early age. For example, in primary school, our teacher cited the following to us: Partisans are so inappropriately dressed, they carry lice, live in hunger, they sleep wherever they can find shelter, etc. but ‘White Guards’! They are clean, organised, nicely dressed and well taken care of. With that, they would often pose the question: Which will you support and join? Obviously, all with one voice would declare: White Guards! But our teachers never once informed us who the White Guards genuinely were and who they belonged to and supported.

It grieves me so deeply when I observe where the memories of the efforts and achievements of the partisans during the liberation movement have gone, and how the partisans are being remembered, especially after the independence of Slovenia. Specific political groups and some historians have been unusually persistent with their devaluation and attack on the history of the partisans and their achievements during the liberation movement.

My childhood and youth

I was born on the 19th of May 1925, in Podveža pri Luče, a town along the Savinja river. My parents lived in poverty, which was also how we lived. We lived on the Kokelj farm, better known as Kladnik in Podveža, which my parents rented.

My father was a carpenter and farmer. He was also a soldier, who served under the leadership of the legendary general Rudolf Maister. He was wounded in battle, in the Valleys of the Medes. My father didn’t want to and just couldn’t accept it, when I was called to serve in the German forces. But I had no choice, even though my heart was rooted with the partisans, which at that time did not have organised military service. Thus, I had to obey the commands of the dominating voice.

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Together with my brothers and sisters, those still alive (2009)

In the spring of 1944, I came home on a short leave. I almost right away made a connection with the partisan military and was assigned to their Tomiš brigade (Thomas brigade). Two of my brothers, my older brother Franc and younger brother Tone, short for Anton (born 1927), had already joined the brigade. Unfortunately, my little brother Tone had to pay with his young life, before the war was over.

My father was delighted and proud that three of his sons served with the partisans. But my mother, on the other hand, was much concerned and suffered a great deal: what is going on with, and what will happen to her sons. She also feared that the Germans would come, and as soon as they would find out that her sons are serving in the opposing armies, that she and the rest of her younger children would all be sent off to the concentration camps.

With the arrival of the XIV division into Styria, the Germans could no longer threaten the Slovenes as they freely had. Thus my parents were fortunate to be able to stay at home, without the need to flee.​

The Kladnik farm in Podveža

The original owner of the farm went into debt and thus had to go into remortgaging. The Drava Banate seized the estate. They then gave the buildings and farmlands on cheap rent. My parents didn’t need to pay much taxes or fees. It was most likely because we were so many children in the family.

My parents diligently worked every piece of the land we had available, to grow various types of crops and potatoes. I still so well remember that we also had two or three cows. I can comfortably say that hunger was never present in our home.

My father was a carpenter. He was quite active in the neighbourhood, fixing roofs and building new buildings. Though the income he got through his carpentry was little.

As children, we didn’t have many clothes, and those that we had were patched and scruffy. We never knew of, and thus never imagined, treats of any kind. We ate simple, homemade food, but as I mentioned before, we never went hungry.     

My mother also, whenever possible, brought income into the family. She often carried loads up to the cabin on Korošica, where they were renovating the mountain cabin. I still remember how she, and others, carried fifty-kilogram bags of building materials for four hours, from Luče up to Korošica.

The marked hiking route went past the Kladnik farm, so we could often monitor the traffic of people going up towards the cabin; when the cabin was opened the majority of the people going up were well-equipped hikers. I still remember how ashamed and embarrassed my mother was when these noble and equipped hikers would see her scruffy and modestly dressed children. My mother instructed us that we must hide whenever groups of hikers would come past. One day it happened that when we were playing outside, a group of tourist hikers surprised us. Amongst them was a gentleman, engineer Kopinšek, who took a photo of us. He gave us the photo, which became a real treasure for us children. Unfortunately, the photo was lost in a fire in 1948, when the Rosec farm, where we were living in, in Podvolovljek, burnt down. If only we still had that photo, because it would be a precious memory for those of us, who are still alive today.

Thus, my parents had to work hard to be able to support such a large family. All in all, we were 15 children. As the fourth child, I had to leave home when I was 13, and thus relieve my parents with one less mouth to feed. I went and served on the Osterman farm in Gornji Grad, where I stayed for a whole year. While there, tremendous homesickness came upon me and my longing for my family was so much that I couldn’t even feel my existence or feelings anymore. This psychological suffering was relieved when my father came for me and took